If you’ve ever been jolted awake by your alarm clock but were so momentarily confused that you reached for the telephone instead of hitting the snooze, you likely experienced an episode of what’s called “sleep drunkenness.” And you’re not alone.
In a new study, researchers found that sleep drunkenness may affect one in every seven people. The disorder causes a person to be so confused upon being woken up that they don’t know what they are doing.
The study, published Monday in the journal Neurology, also determined that 84 percent of people who experienced an episode of sleep drunkenness also suffered from a related sleep disorder, a mental health disorder or were taking psychotropic drugs such as antidepressants.
